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Read The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza (1998)

The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza (1998)

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Rating
3.83 of 5 Votes: 5
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ISBN
0451194888 (ISBN13: 9780451194886)
Language
English
Publisher
signet

The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza (1998) - Plot & Excerpts

This is something like the fourth in the series featuring bookstore owner and lock-picking burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr (I'm not sure how many there are in total, but I know it's at least 10). I do know every one I've read so far has been quite entertaining.Honestly, the plots are pretty much same old, same old: Bernie pulls off a successful heist; someone connected to that heist gets murdered; Bernie gets blamed and has to track down the real killer if he wants to avoid jail time. For that reason, I usually intersperse one of these (which, if you've got three hours or so to spare, can be read easily in a day) with a book that's a bit more intellectually challenging. But when I want nothing more than a quick, fun read, these books fill the bill nicely.In this one, Bernie and a female friend who's convinced Bernie to take her on as a partner in crime pay a visit to a swanky home while the owners supposedly are away for the night. When they arrive, they discover they're not the first burglars to visit; parts of the house are in shambles and items like silverware obviously are missing. Looking for different kinds of items to steal, Bernie and his friend do more poking around and find a rare coin, which they later take to a friend who's a fence.In the meantime, the wife of the homeowner turns up dead (killed the very night Bernie and his friend went visiting), and soon thereafter, Bernie's fence bites the dust as well. Needless to say, evidence surfaces suggesting that Bernie may have done the dirty deeds. He didn't, of course, but now he has to figure out who did - before he ends up a victim himself.As usual, it's all interspersed with a sense of humor. While poking around in the New York City apartment of that murdered fence/friend, for instance, Bernie - who narrates the books - looks out the guy's apartment window and says, "I gazed at New Jersey in the distance - which is where it belongs."And there you have it. Another one down, several more waiting for the wing-backed chair. And by golly, I'm looking forward to having a go at them!

O que gosto mais nas feiras de livros (e livrarias no geral) é de encontrar livros de que nunca ouvimos falar e do qual não temos nenhuma opinião já pré-definida, levá-los alegremente para casa e ver no que dá.Depois de ter adquirido este livro numa feirinha aqui da zona, pesquisei no Goodreads e vi que fazia parte de uma série policial, contudo ter começado pelo 4º livro não comprometeu a minha compreensão da história (pelo que entendi cada livro segue o mesmo protagonista a resolver casos diferentes.Gostei deste livro, é leve e tem partes divertidas, lê-se muito rápido (surpreendi-me a mim mesma lendo-o em pouco mais de um dia), no entanto o que me impediu de gostar mais dele, foi o facto de, tratando-se de um romance policial, os motivos que levaram os criminosos a cometerem os ditos crimes serem um pouco cliché e já muito vistos. Estava à espera de uma trama um pouco mais trabalhada. De qualquer das formas, tenciono ler o volume da série que se segue e, talvez, pegar nos volumes anteriores. Aproveito também para elogiar a estética do livro, a edição que tenho é da Cotovia e, para além da capa bonita, o papel é grosso, uma coisa rara nos dias de hoje!

What do You think about The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza (1998)?

Bernie is a bookseller and a burglar.His best friend,Carolyn, is a dog groomer and his part-time henchman.When Carolyn learns of a rich couple who will be gone overnight, they decide to pay the house a visit.But when they get there, they discover thieves have already been there.Luckily the thieves had not been able to get into the safe.So Bernie and Carolyn manage to still get away with some jewelry and a 1913 V nickel.Their next stop is to visit their friend Abel, who is also a fence.This is when things start going downhill. First the lady od the house is found dead and then Abel is also found murdered.To make matters worse, the police think Bernie is involved.So it is up to Bernie to solve both murders to clear his own name.Sharp patter, great characters, lots of twists and plenty of humor makes this a great read or even re-read.It was written in 1980, so it does show its age at times. Bernie talks of putting a stack of records on the turntable, using a pay phone, and watching Family Feud(well I guess that one doesn't work).But overall it stands the test of time.If you have read(and liked)any of the Burglar series, you will like this one as well. If you haven't had the luck to meet Bernie and gang, you are in for a treat.My favorite line from the book is when Bernie is talking to one of Abel's neighbors and tells her, "Good fences make good neighbors."
—David Caldwell

I may just need a break from this series, but it seems to me this is the weakest Bernie title so far.The action is moderately different but so formulaicly similar that I am getting afraid that once you have read one Bernie story, you may have read them all. Kind of a shame, cuz I was so fond of the Keller books, and for that matter the first few Bernie titles were pretty good.I am just wondering - looking forward to the next Bernie books - how many times Block has dipped into the well of the - Guilty / Innocent burlgar who would never hurt anyone, and everyone knows it, but JUST THIS ONCE - everyone figures he went off and killed someone / several someones in the course of his job burgling folks fine trinkets and baubles and whatnot. IN fairness this was written 30 years ago in a bit of a lull for mysteries when the format was in a serious downswing, I just hope the next ones are better.
—Darth

Bernie Rhodenbarr, Gentleman Thief, now with extra added lesbian dwarf henchperson.If you're an old hand with the Burglar series from Lawrence Block you know the drill; Bernie commits a crime, somehow gets framed for murder and then needs to get himself out of a jam by doing the cops work for them whilst cracking wise. It's his lesbian dwarf henchperson that gets him fingered this time and it's a close friend who is the unfortunate corpse, it's fair to say Bernie has had better weeks, but that doesn't stop him from putting a fair few people behind bars and making a tidy profit in the bargain.Block walks you through this latest confession with stunning ease, wit and flair, his modern day Raffles taking great pleasure in discussing philosophy, the finer points of B&E, orthotics, pastries, exotic breeds of dog and rare coins. Once more he provides a lightly entertaining mystery complete with gathering of all major suspects in a closed space whilst he slowly explains the one fact that he and Block kept from the reader to allow for the traditional "dramatic reveal." You just can't really go wrong with Lawrence Block no matter where you turn.
—Tfitoby

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